


With Apologies to Poe

by mizface



Category: due South
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-31
Updated: 2009-10-31
Packaged: 2017-10-24 18:55:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/266739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizface/pseuds/mizface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A re-telling of <i>The Raven</i>, due South style.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Apologies to Poe

It was late and I was tired. Couldn’t sleep – I was too wired  
Long hard day, all bad, which meant a long and sleepless night ahead  
I was clicking through the stations quickly losing all my patience  
Then I heard a knock and knew who else would still be out of bed.  
Only one man crazed enough to be here now and not in bed.  
Fraser. “Has to be,” I said.

I had dropped him off still sore, left him at the Consulate door  
A glare from me, a nod from him - no words were said when we did part  
But of course he couldn’t leave it, couldn’t let things have time to sit  
Had to walk all the way here to have some freakish heart to heart  
And at three a.m. the mere idea of a heart to heart  
Made a nasty migraine start.

So I went to let him in. He knew I would - it was a given.  
Mad or glad or sad to see him didn’t change how I’d react.  
He’s my partner and we’re friends, til that bitterest of ends  
When no longer am I needed for this undercover act.  
When the day comes I don’t have to do the Ray Vecchio act  
All bets are off, and that’s a fact.

When I opened up the door you could have knocked me to the floor  
It wasn’t Fraser that was waiting in the building’s darkened hall.  
In front of me there stood a man who looked, despite his even tan  
So pale I wasn’t sure that he was real or even here at all.  
How on earth could Raymond Vecchio have made it here at all?  
Was I about to take a fall?

He breezed past me as I stared at him so very unprepared  
He was the last guy that I ever thought to see come to my door.  
I wondered if I was asleep, in bed and dreaming something deep  
It kind of freaked me out that I’d been thinking of him just before  
I’d been thinking of him coming back not five seconds before.  
Why was he here? What was in store?

“So is this it? The gig is done? Had your fill of Vegas fun?”  
I was too wiped out to think about exactly what I said.  
“Am I being pushed aside, or have you come to me to hide?  
Maybe you could be _me_ now, and find your way into _my_ head.  
I don’t know that you’d want to find out just what is in my head.”  
Then I waited there in dread.

But he didn’t say a word, I wasn’t even sure he heard  
Watching me with eyes so pained I finally had to turn away.  
“Why are you here - can you tell me? Just say something that will help me  
Know what’s next for Ray Kowalski –“ What did I want him to say?  
What kind of news would be the kind I wanted him to say?  
That I was done, or I could stay?

Yet he still refused to speak. He only stared at me so bleak  
And tired I feared whatever awful fate had brought him to my door.  
Taking time to really look I couldn’t help but see he shook  
With fear or cold I had no clue and hated feeling so unsure  
Worst of all for me this awful night was being so unsure  
Of who I was, whose name I wore.

Then he turned away from me, and suddenly all that I could see  
Were the two holes right in the back of the suit jacket that he wore.  
The edges of them red and singed and I knew I had come unhinged  
How could I **not** have noticed he’d been leaving blood upon my floor?  
Looking now I saw the trails of blood he’d left there on my floor  
Finally I knew the score.

“You’re not here – you’re just a spirit!” He flinched like it hurt to hear it  
“Why the hell did you pick here to come, what can **I** do for you?  
Fraser’s who you should be haunting, ‘cause you know that he’d be wanting  
A last chance to get to see you and to say good-bye to you.  
All he ever wanted was a chance to say good-bye to you.”  
And we both knew that that was true.

But he stayed there in the room filling it with dark and gloom  
And I wondered what to do now with this man whose name I wore  
Was I stuck with him forever? Was there some way I could sever  
This weird tie that brought him here to me once he’d passed through Death’s door  
Was there some way that I could send him back to his side of Death’s door  
Or was he here forever more?

Then again I heard a tapping at my door, a gentle rapping  
And I froze in place with terror like I’d never felt before  
I so didn’t want to go there, one dead guy was more than my share  
But repeated knocks had me move grudgingly towards the door  
With my heart pounding in my chest I moved slowly toward the door  
I was shaken to the core

Finally I couldn’t take it, slammed the door, tried not to break it  
And gave a _huge_ sigh of relief at who was on the other side  
It was Fraser come to see me, come to try and make peace with me  
And I was so glad to see him my relief I couldn’t hide  
I was shaking with reaction and relief I couldn’t hide  
As I had him come inside

He came in without a sound, and I was spooked again, I found,  
Even more so when I saw his back, the twin wounds that _he_ bore  
Right to Vecchio he went and my last sanity was spent  
With them both here I had no freaking clue what fate would have in store  
With me alive and them in limbo what fate could there be in store  
I saw few options to explore

I thought I was going to scream, this had to be some awful dream  
Just had to be a nasty figment of my tired, twisted brain  
So I closed my eyes real tight, hiding everything from sight  
In hope that when I looked again no trace of either would remain  
Not a single thing to show that they’d been present would remain  
“Please just be gone,” was my refrain

When I opened up my eyes I found that, to my glad surprise  
No trace of either man was there, my plan had worked! I could relax  
Getting up to look I saw no trail of blood, no stain or flaw  
Not a single thing was out of place, no sign of ghostly acts  
I looked around but saw no signs of supernatural acts  
But I was still freaked to the max

As I stood there silent, shaking like a leaf, my hands still quaking  
I was startled by a steady knock at my apartment door  
It was more than I could take – “Just go away, for pity’s sake!  
I’ve had all I can of visitors tonight – I can’t take more.  
Doesn’t matter if you’re real or not I can’t take any more!”  
But my pleas were all ignored.

“This has got to be the end,” I said, “Please let this be my friend!”  
I hoped and prayed that it was someone living on the other side  
My hands still shook as I reached for the knob on my apartment door  
I pulled it open oh so slowly scared to see who was outside  
I was totally frightened of who, or worse _what_ was outside  
Then I saw _him_ and nearly cried.

It is here I end my tale, and it’s on purpose that I fail  
To tell you who it was that stood there - was it Fraser? Was it Ray?  
Do you think that they were dead? Or was I just out of my head  
Were the ghosts I saw just figments, my subconscious come to play  
You decide now – was it only insecurities at play  
Or am I haunted to this day?


End file.
